Mario Party Superstars is the culmination of all that is great about the Mario Party series. Sporting many of the best boards and mini-games pulled from the series’ long history and featuring multiple quality-of-life updates including online play, the ability to save and return to a game later, faster gameplay, a variety of different playstyles between the boards, a leveling system, and a ton of items to unlock, Mario Party Superstars may be the best entry yet in the long-running series. Here’s hoping Nintendo supports this release and adds new boards in future DLC.

Blue Reflection: Second Light provides an intriguing story and challenging battles despite its derivative gameplay. As such, I’d easily recommend it to fans of both anime and JRPGs.

Whether you’re a seasoned Jurassic World Evolution player or brand new to the franchise, I can guarantee you that you will have a blast with Jurassic World Evolution 2. While I think a couple of things could be tweaked to make certain things more obvious, it doesn’t stop you from having an absolutely wonderful time playing the game. The addition of the flying and aquatic dinosaurs has been excellent, and I really hope for more content and DLC to go along with it!

War never changes, and Call Of Duty is in fact still Call Of Duty. Sledgehammer Games however has happened across an intriguing formula, connecting what has worked in previous games and integrating it into their own. The campaign is stunning, and while short lived has a ton of heart, Zombies is as fun and maybe more inviting than it’s ever been, and the multiplayer hard carries this entry to a round 11 victory. This culmination of all things Call Of Duty has resulted in something the entire series can look to, a blueprint on how to build a meaty and superb first person shooter experience.

New World’s ideas come across as very solid, but the more I’ve engaged with it, the more I see problems. Those problems have nothing to do with the foundation of New World, however. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with New World besides the economy and lack of main missions, and only the former can destroy the game. The rest of the issues can be fixed with time and enough attention to the details. We’ll see how Amazon Games decides to proceed with what’s working and what doesn’t as I work towards the end game.

Tandem: A Tale of Shadows is a surprisingly unique twist on the puzzle genre, making incredible use of light and shadow. The dual character perspective is clever, and helps to create increasingly complex puzzles, which thankfully avoid crossing the line from challenging to frustrating. The short length may upset players hoping for a longer adventure, but helps keep the game flowing smoothly and prevents its core gameplay from becoming stale. Add in a beautifully crafted world and unique boss fights, and Tandem begins to stand out from other puzzler games currently on the market.

While there is a great game somewhere in here, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version has many, baffling issues seemingly exclusive to this version. On top of not being comparable to other console versions, it somehow performs even worse to the point of being almost unplayable most of the time. As usual, your results may vary depending on internet connection, but this version still needs a lot of work.

Shin Megami Tensei V is a masterfully made JRPG and fascinating work of art. While the characters could have used more fleshing out and the leveling curve is wildly uneven, it’s still incredibly fun with thrilling combat and a gripping plot.

A lot of Forza Horizon 5 feels similar to Forza Horizon 4 in a way previous Horizon games haven’t felt with their prequels, but Adventures bring unique storytelling and slight edutainment to the Horizon formula and if more Horizon’s are in the future, particularly ones not in Europe and America, it’s not a bad foundation to build on. Driving feels as good as it ever has and Playground Games absolutely succeeded in interpreting the beauty of Mexico. The seasonal model returns and it does a better job of incentivizing people to group up, but it’s still not quite enough to entice people to do activities like Forza Arcade.

There’s no doubt that Just Dance 2022 has fallen into some of the traps of other annual games by not making it feel like a total makeover, but once you feel the quality of the choreography and see the improved visuals, you can’t deny that Ubisoft is still trying to deliver an exceptional product where it counts: the dancing and song selection. Even as one who is slightly out of touch with current hits, most of them successfully motivate me to get off my butt and start dancing.

A shiny time capsule housing six years of sci-fi shooter evolution. Performance-wise, the Switch is two for three, with the Crysis remaster struggling to keep up with the sequels. If you're in it for the visuals and not just the nostalgic flavors of the previous decade, then the remastered trilogy is best experienced on more powerful hardware.

The Sims 4 has released a lot of quality content this year, and the Fashion Street and Incheon Arrivals Kits don't disappoint. Both add wonderful pieces of clothing to your Sims wardrobes, with new and unique options we were desperately missing. The kits are reasonably priced at just $4.99 each, and definitely spice things up for your Sims!

Dying Light: Platinum Edition is another impressive Switch port, but the game itself is just OK. Its design threw everything at the wall, often to its detriment. While it has some pretty high highs, they lie almost exclusively in the movement. If you do want to chase those highs you’re better off on other platforms until another patch or two comes along.

Wildermyth is a fun storytelling game with a ton of possible variance between playthroughs. The stories you make with the game can be very interesting, though it has a tendency to repeat itself a little too frequently.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a uniquely thrilling horror experience. Armed with only a camera and your wits, the tension is palpable and oozes out of every nook and cranny of Mt. Hikami and the surrounding areas. The camera serves to be as trusty of a weapon as a gun and adds a distinct tension to the action that few games could replicate. The atmosphere, level design, and story all work in tandem to create a surprisingly tense and beautiful experience, despite relying a bit too much on backtracking and having a rather thin story.

Phoenix Point: Behemoth Edition offers the same wealth of content available on the PC, and the controller support is good enough for those willing to overlook some fiddly inventory and menu management. However, the technical performance is far beneath what it should be, so your best bet is to wait for the promised patches to arrive, or simply enjoy a smoother ride on PC if you can.

Pumpkin Jack is a retro-inspired platformer that features a great sense of humor, creative boss fights, a variety of levels, a few interesting puzzles, and some inspired on-rails sections. While the combat can border on frustrating and the game can be completed in 4 or 5 hours, there is still a lot to love – especially if you are a fan of PS2 era platformers.

While The Good Life still has some annoyances carried over from Deadly Premonition, it’s still a great time with some wacky characters. The transformations and photography are a lot of fun to mess around with, and the life simulation aspects compliment the more relaxed pace nicely.

Gloomhaven’s jump from board game to PC keeps the game as strategic and satisfying as it ever was, all while streamlining the experience and opening it up to new avenues of play. The genuine effort of the creators shows through to a game that is worthy for fans and newcomers alike to struggle against the hordes of doom that threaten your very cards.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is the biggest surprise of the year, and joins Marvel’s Spider-Man as one of the best Marvel video games in the last decade. The Guardians themselves steal the show, depicted perfectly, with a movie/comic-worthy story that will leave you laughing and crying. The combat is a lot of fun with plenty of strategies to use, even if it can get a little repetitive, and the setting and locations blow you away in scale and how incredibly detailed and beautiful they are. This Guardians team absolutely stands on its own, and just like the movie I’m hooked on a feeling.

Age of Empires helped define an entire genre, and under the steady hand of RTS masters Relic Entertainment, it may once again wear that crown -- Age of Empires IV is that good.

Toy Soldiers HD allows players to live out the scenarios they once created as a child playing with toys on a rainy Saturday afternoon, while also providing a complex, stressful, and beautifully crafted strategic experience. I found myself eager to see what was next, to retry levels with better defenses after learning what to expect, and to hop into a multiplayer match (even if I couldn’t at press time). I may not have played the original, so I can’t compare the remaster to it, but if the original was half as good as the remaster then I am sorry that I missed out on this series for so many years.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes might not be very frightening, but it absolutely nails a tense atmosphere where every choice really does matter. With gorgeous visuals and a satisfying, well paced story, Supermassive has finally found their footing.

Unsighted is this year’s best Metroidvania/Zelda-like game by a long shot. It’s creative, gripping, and accessible with a ton of stuff to do and see. There are a few small issues, like some awkward writing or too much menuing, but those are well worth it for such a fun, polished experience.

Life is Strange: True Colors Wavelengths provides a great narrative experience that series fans will especially appreciate focused solely on one of the series’ best characters.

Discovery Tour: Viking Age uses fictional narratives to interest the player in learning about real world cultures and artifacts to great effect. While seeing more perspectives would have given a rounder view, there’s a ton of interesting things to learn at your own pace and however deep you want to go.

Wrath of the Righteous is a deep, engaging, faithful recreation of the tabletop campaign with only minor flaws. Its Crusade system is imperfect and the learning curve is more of a mountain, but the reward for getting through both is a long experience with incredible replay value. I know I will be replaying a few times soon, and I invite you to do the same.

Lemnis Gate gets a lot right when all the stars align and you're able to get into the game without a hitch. However, at least on PS5, the game has quite a few hiccups that prevent the player from ever reaching the fun twist on your run of the mill shooter.